Spectacular plans for a 600-meter-tall tower to be built in Moscow to designs by British architect Sir Norman Foster were unveiled at the MIPIM international realty fair in Cannes, France, on Wednesday.

A performance by a Cossack choir at the opening cocktail party and an impressive model of the Kazan Kremlin were just two of the signs of the major Russian presence last week at the biggest-ever MIPIM exhibition of property market professionals.

A 300,000-square-meter office complex will be built to house the giant national companies intent on registering in St. Petersburg, the city's deputy governor, Alexander Vakhmistrov, said at a news briefing last week.

Yelena Melnikova abandoned her claim to half of her family's house, a downtown Moscow 1920s Constructivist landmark, settling a 20-year-old ownership conflict and paving the way for the creation of a museum in honor of the Soviet architect who built it, Konstantin Melnikov.